Software Developer's Journey

Swiz' told us how he discovered computers at a very early age and how the planets aligned. By the time he enrolled in a CS degree in Slovenia, he had already had multiple internships and experiences working as a software developer. He spoke about freelancing and how this led him not to finish his CS degree. He talked about how his first entrepreneurial experience took him to Silicon Valley, what he learned there (by crashing and burning his startup) and how it eventually took him where he...

In this episode, Wajahat tells us the moving and emotional story of how his mother, family, and friends shaped the person he became. Wajahat spoke about his childhood in Pakistan when his family couldn't afford a computer. He talked about applying to highly selective universities and the role the loss of his mother played in him being accepted at one of them. He told us about his studies of telecom engineering and how a mentor changed his view on "defining his career." And finally, he told...

Crazy but true, it's show number 200! I invited Patrick Leblanc to come and ask me all the questions he wanted about the show to celebrate this milestone. Credits HeliotropeBlue Dot SessionsCC BY-NC-ND 4.0timbourguignon.frhttps://devjourney.info/subscribeSupport the show (https://www.patreon.com/timbourguignon)

Carl first told us about his father's role in introducing him to computers. He then spoke about how he used projects to learn new things and became a developer. He told us the story of his first job at Crescent Software and how he got the teaching bug. We then discussed teaching and how he got onto the .NET bandwagon. Carl told us how a Windows update ended up crashing one of his music shows. We brushed over the history of the dotnetrocks show and finished intense talking about flow and his...

Laura took us on a wild ride, made of starting and dropping, taking unexpected turns to follow creative endeavors, and finally reaching a great destination. We spoke about her dreams of studying tech, going to trade school instead, and joining a startup before the end. We talked about opportunities, moving out and back in and then abroad, applying, and finally meeting communities. Here are the links from the...

Holden's tech story started at a very early age, and her tech-savviness grew very quickly. She told us how her parents and childhood neighbors helped her get on the right track. Going from one nostalgic memory to the next, Holden took us from her love for "Search" to Amazon through internships and moving to the West Coast. We talked about functional programming, Scala, and going to New York. We finally discussed interviewing, joining Google, and teaching. Here are the links from the...

Aran started talking about Biotech and how he discovered that the slow feedback loop of biology didn't suit his needs. We then brushed over his career, from learning to code, going to Harvard, being a researcher, and finally, his startup Archera. We briefly talked about his privacy projects, including the so-called "Marauders Map," exposing Facebook's lack of privacy concerns. And then, we dug deeper into Archera, how it works, and the company's business model (building on top of the AWS...

Dagna decided to study robotics to change the future. She told us how she hated programming at first until it clicked when she worked with a fantastic crew at Nokia. She spoke of her mentors and learning to value simplicity. We discussed moving abroad and the privilege of being developers. We talked about startups and sabbaticals. Finally, Dagna took us on her last adventure of becoming a career coach for devs and how she made her side gig and her dream a reality. Here are the links from...

Ségolène's story started in law school and with internships which left her puzzled about her career choice. She then studied for an MBA and finally joined a startup with an undefined role. She took over a product management position in this company and working with developers slowly piqued her interest. Later on, Ségolène decided to join a Bootcamp and later the 42 school, which we talked about. Finally, we talked about her joining Doctolib in France, right as the first COVID lockdown was...

Nicolas started tweaking HTML pages on PHP-BB forums when he was in high school, but even though he liked coding, that didn't propel him toward a dev career... yet. He then studied physics and chemistry and joined a business school while still coding on the side. His interests were very eclectic, so he freelanced on web projects. After an exciting experience building a real-life connected wine farming simulator game, he discovered the Software Crafters community. He joined a company...

Julianna started by telling us about her love for maths and figure skating. She spoke about the hard choice she had to pursue sports toward a professional career or going to college. She chose the latter and went to a business school. There she discovered computer science and transferred to Stanford. We then talked about her studies there and how she entered the startup world. We discussed finding what you like and the challenges. We debated leaving Strava and pursuing dreams, and finally...

Carly took us from her CS and software engineering studies to her internships and later career at an investment bank. We spoke about moving internally, mentorship, learning, public speaking, management, and going back to individual contribution and trusting your guts. Here are the links from the show: https://www.twitter.com/CarlyLRichmondhttps://carlylrichmond.medium.com/https://www.linkedin.com/in/carly-richmond-b4b03563/https://carlyrichmond.com/blog-home/The three persons Carly...

Laurie first took us through the many times where she should have realized that she was meant to be a developer but didn't. We spoke about her changing gears, going from law to program management, and finally, tech'. We talked about the public vs. private sector and highlighted her transferable skills when applying for her first dev job. We spoke of consultancy, what she learned and how she went from being title-less to a Staff Engineer at Gatsby. We finally spoke about finding where to go...

Rich's computer story started early in his childhood with an Amstrad computer. But it took him 30 years, 2 or 3 different careers in screenwriting, scaffolding, building glasses, and moving from the UK to Sweden to discover programming (again). We talked about this journey and what ensued when he married his love for screenwriting and tech together to become a technical writer. Here are the links from the...

Luce took us back to her childhood when she discovered computers but also realized she didn't fit into the mold. She told us the story of her being bullied and eventually diagnosed as being on the autistic spectrum. She told us about her difficulty studying and how she finally found a vocational program in IT that matched her needs so well that she could strive. She then took us on the wild ride of the many jobs she had, how she discovered Xamarin, entered the communities, and finally ended...

Michael took us back in his gaming past, tweaking his machine to get the most of it. This led him to enroll in a trade school, leading to IT support and network administration. Discovering Powershell and later Python were the game changers for him. From there on, he went into automation and then SRE. We talked about learning, changing careers, recognizing when you are not learning, being bold, making the most of situations, shiny object syndrome, toxic people, and much more! Here are the...

Suze took us from her first love for programming on a BBC-Micro, to her career in Marketing. She explained how she worked for the Police and managed communities. After being made redundant, she embraced freelancing and went back to coding. We discussed how she finally came back to technical marketing in the form of developer advocacy. Here are the links from the...

Scott took us from his job as a bank clerk to learning VBA. He told us how he became a VBA analyst, solved problems on giant spreadsheets, and at some point decided to change careers. We talked about recruiting(and recruiters), teaching, blogging, advocating, and scratching your own itch. Here are the links from the...

Sydney first told us about her early love for building websites on Geocities and how she didn't pursue a career in tech but instead went into sociology. We then talked about the implications of sociology on society and how she came back to tech. We spoke about growth hacking and (technology) adoption. We finally talked about Web3, how it relates to Web2 and how one can go from one paradigm to another. Here are the links from the...

Karl took us from his passion for architecture and mechanics to his first freelancing project in college. We talked about how he learned how to create websites and started building a network. We spoke about the startups he joined and the ones he made. We finally talked about the power of networking and how Karl used it to his advantage throughout his career. Here are the links from the...